ownership the full and complete right of dominion over property. It has been said that ownership is either so simple as to need no expla- nation or so elusive as to defy definition. At its most extreme and absolute, it means the power to enjoy and dispose of things absolute- ly. In almost every society the power is limited by the general law. Because it is possible under many legal systems for an owner to grant rights over a property, it may be that the owner will be unable to use his property – the owner of a car sold on hire-purchase never drives it, indeed, may never even have seen it. Thus, ownership is often considered to be the ultimate residual right that remains after all other rights over a thing have been extinguished.

In Roman law and in civilian systems, the owner of property is usu- ally able to recover his own property by an action called a vindicatio. For practical reasons, civilian systems usually adopt a presumption of ownership from possession and, indeed, such appears in the French and German civil codes and is a rule of law in Scotland: Prag- nell-O'Neill v. Lady Skiffington 1984 SLT 282. In English law, posses- sion itself is protected. See CONVERSION.

Ownership is said to be original, where the owner has brought the property into human control for the first time, as by occupying land or capturing a wild animal, or derivative, where the owner acquires from the previous owner as in a sale.

So far as the most common transaction – SALE – is concerned, the law is set out by the Sale of Goods Act 1979. The English approach to ownership is adopted in the UK whereby the Act sets out who has property in the goods or who gets a good title to the goods – both concepts being practically equivalent to ownership.

Theoretically, ownership of land in England and Wales is vested in the Crown; the concept of ownership by individuals and companies is expressed through the doctrine of estates. Only two legal estates

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may exist since 1925, namely the fee simple absolute in possession (FREEHOLD), which is akin to absolute ownership, and the term of years absolute (LEASEHOLD), which confers ownership or possession rights for a temporary period.

In Scotland too, with a few exceptions, land is held feudally under the Crown.

• Crown
• Crown Agent
• Crown Court
• Crown Office
• Crown proceedings
• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• CRU
• crystallisation
• CSA
• culpable homicide
• culpa tenet suos auctores
• cur. adv. vult
• curator
• curator ad litem
• curator bonis
• current maintenance arrestment
• custody
• custom or usage
• customs duties
• customs union
• Cynulliad Cenedlasthol Cymru
• cy pres
• daily
• damages
• damnum absque injuria